The Liberal Gene

'Liberal gene' discovered.
Liberal behavior and thought patterns are found to be genetic, study suggests.
By Sly Fox

Could a gene be partly responsible for the behavior of some of the world's most infamous liberals?

Flaming liberals owe their behavior to their genes, according to a study that claims to have found a genetic link to liberalism. The study might help to explain the bizarre behavior found in college professors, journalists, Hollywood types, socialists, Communists, Democrats, and to most of the population on the East and West coasts.

Researchers at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem found a link between a gene called AVPR1a and liberal behavior in a scientific laboratory exercise called the 'Lib Game'. This exercise allows players to behave normally or like a silly liberal. The researchers don't yet know the mechanism by which the gene influences behavior. It may mean that for some, the old adage that "it is better to work than to be on the dole" simply isn't true, says team leader Richard Ebstein. The reward centers in those brains may derive less pleasure from self-reliant acts, he suggests, perhaps causing them to wish for someone else such as their Federal Government to provide for their every need and desire at the expense of others.

Ebstein and his colleagues decided to look at AVPR1a because it is known to produce receptors in the brain that detect vasopressin, a hormone involved in altruism and 'prosocial' behavior. Studies of prairie voles have previously shown that this hormone is important for binding together these rodents' tight-knit social groups.

Ebstein's team wondered whether differences in how this receptor is expressed in the human brain may make different people more or less likely to behave like liberal wackos or like responsible and intelligent conservatives.

To find out, they tested DNA samples from more than 200 student volunteers before asking the students to play the "Lib Game" (volunteers were not told the name of the game, lest it influence their behavior). Students were divided into two groups: 'workers' and 'receivers' (called 'A' and 'B' to the participants). Each volunteer was told that they would receive 50 shekels (worth about US$14), and were free to continue to work and invest or to spend it and ask for more.

About 98% of all liberals quit their jobs and spent all of the money, Ebstein and his colleagues report in the journal "Genes, Brain and Behavior." About 92% of all conservatives continued to work and invested their money to improve their chances for being independent in their old age.
There was no connection between the participants' gender and their behavior, the team reports. But there was a link to the length of the AVPR1a gene: people were more likely to behave as a liberal the shorter their version of this gene.

It isn't clear how the length of AVPR1a affects vasopressin receptors: it is thought that rather than controlling the number of receptors, it may control where in the brain the receptors are distributed. Ebstein suggests the vasopressin receptors in the brains of people with short AVPR1a may be distributed in such a way to make them less likely to feel rewarded by work and self-reliance. Though the mechanism is unclear, Ebstein says, he is fairly sure that no amount of logic and debate would be likely to alter the liberal's brain patterns.

"Researchers should nevertheless be careful about using the relatively blunt tool of the Lib Game to draw conclusions about human behavior" says Nicholas Bardsley at the University of Southampton, UK, who studies such games. "We think as much as 15% of liberal behavior could be due to brain damage from being dropped on their head by their mothers. We may never know for sure," says Bardsley, "because mothers are reluctant to admit to these accidents."

Understanding Tax Cuts

TAX CUTS EXPLAINED Because it's the election season, let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand.Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this: The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing. The fifth would pay $1. The sixth would pay $3. The seventh would pay $7. The eighth would pay $12. The ninth would pay $18. The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59. So, that's what they decided to do.The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement until one day the owner threw them a curved ball (or is that a curved beer!). "Because you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20."Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer.So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay. And so: ; The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings). The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings). The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% savings). The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings). The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings). The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four Continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant the men began to compare their savings."I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man, "but he got $10!"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!""That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!""Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"The nine men surrounded the tenth man and beat him up.
The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our Tax System works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

David R Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
University of Georgia

Ivy League Diversity

America's institutions of higher learning are spending a lot of time and effort promoting "diversity" in race and cultural matters. But one critical area where diversity is almost non-existant is diversity of political opinion. Woe to any student who dares challenge the liberal professor on matters of politics. As a result, too many naive high school students arrive at college without life experience, knowledge or self-confidence and graduate with political views similar to their professors. Is this education or indoctrination?

All Princeton faculty members who have given to 2008 presidential candidates so far have donated to Democrats, according to federal records of donations to presidential campaigns from Princeton University employees.

Federal Election Commission records list any donation over $200 to a political organization or candidate and are public by law. The Harvard Crimson reported that 86 percent of Harvard professors' contributions went to Democrats. Well, that is better than Princeton... but not much.

The statistics of political giving at Princeton mirror larger trends at campuses across the country. Does that surprise anyone? Inside Higher Education reported that Obama is the "clear favorite of academics," having received over $2.1 million from them.

College Republicans president Andrew Malcolm '09 said that the overwhelming support for Democratic candidates came as no surprise. He said the leftward trend "does raise some concerns about ideological diversity among the faculty."

Yes, it certainly does!

Global Warming Red Alert

Russians Brace For The Big Chill
January 16, 2008 8:18 p.m. EST
Jupiter Kalambakal - AHN News Writer
Moscow, Russia (AHN) - Russians are bracing for temperatures of as low as minus 55 degrees Celsius (minus 67 degrees Fahrenheit) in Siberia as Russia's emergencies ministry warns on Wednesday of its impending dangers in the coming weeks.
Government agencies were placed on high alert, reports AFP. The ministry ordered local administration officials to prepare for the extreme chill expected to last until Jan. 21.
The ministry warned that the unusually cold weather could kill, cause frost-bite, conk heaters and cut electricity to homes, disrupt transport, increase the rate of car accidents and even destroy buildings across Siberia.
The freezing temperatures have already caused overloading of electricity grids and power interruptions in the regions of Irkutsk and Tomsk because of overused heaters in homes. Two people have already died and more than 30 others hospitalized with forst-bite in Irkutsk, reports AFP citing state media.
Bloomberg reports that worst hit will be the Siberian region of Evenkiya, while neighbor Georgia, whose climate is subtropical, already plunged to as low as minus 35 degrees Celsius. Lake Paliastomi in the western Georgia froze for the first time in 50 years, reports Rustavi-2 television.
Average temperatures in large Siberian cities in January usually range between minus 15 degrees Celsius and minus 39 degrees Celsius, according to data from weatherbase.com. Schools have been closed down in at least four regions because of the cold.
Al Gore held an emergency news conference to reassure all his global warming supporters that the temperatures in Russia are further proof that the Bush Administration has a secret project to alter temperatures in the region to discredit his movie and he encouraged the Congress to hold committee meetings to investigate thoroughly this unAmerican activity of the failed Bush administration. "We want and expect this investigation to uncover this climate cooling as a neo-con Republican plot. We want the warming of the planet to proceed as we projected. Our DVD sales of "An Inconvenient Truth" must not be diminished just so the planet can be saved."

Loon update

A couple of news items caught my eye today.

First, Dennis (the Menace) Kucinich, former boy wonder mayor of Cleveland and perennial presidential candidate is demanding a recount of the New Hampshire primary. He must figure that the 2% of the votes he received was close enough to suspect that he might have won after all.

Then we note with saddness the death of Sir Edmund Hillary, the explorer who was the first to climb Mount Everest in 1953. Hillary Clinton told the world a few years ago that she was named after the famous explore because of his historical feat. Hillary is 60 years old. Do the math.

Top 10 Christmas Gifts Not Wanted

(By the editors of Human Events)

1. Have Your Wife Fight Your Battles for You: The John Edwards Military Strategy Handbook

2. The 2008 National Organization of Women Swimwear Calendar

3. "Hillary Clinton's Dramatic Readings of the 10 Greatest Speeches in American History"
(2 disc set)

4. The Dennis Kucinich Unidentified Frying Object Vegetarian Hibachi Grill

5. A home visit by the Ron Paul Blimp

6. The Collected Works of Neil Kinnock, edited by Joe Biden

7. Anything that contains the words "Universal" and "Comprehensive" or that claims to be
"For the Children."

8. Five Hundred shares of New York Times common stock

9. Free Membership in the National Education Association.

10. A Teddy Bear named Mohammad